


Waiting

by Charles_Rockafellor



Category: Original Work
Genre: Ghouls, Niflheimr | Niflheim (Norse Religion & Lore), Post-Zombie Apocalypse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-25
Updated: 2020-05-25
Packaged: 2021-03-02 20:28:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 195
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24372802
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Charles_Rockafellor/pseuds/Charles_Rockafellor
Summary: Z-quarantine.  A whole lot of nothing, and hopefully not punctuated by any excitement.  Excitement rhymes with screaming and blood."Waiting" is set in Niflheimr, a world to the northwest of Jötunheimr and north of Earth 1 (Orion Earth: Miðgårðr).  Seemap of local world-pondsfor details.For the record: I sketched out this story NLT 14 Oct 2019, well before the covid quarantines.𝑫𝒐𝒏'𝒕 𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒈𝒆𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝑳𝒊𝒌𝒆, 𝑺𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒆, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑺𝒖𝒃𝒔𝒄𝒓𝒊𝒃𝒆! ❤️
Collections: Icewall, Zombies of Icewall





	Waiting

Niflheimr Z-free zone.

Warm spot well beyond Niflheimr itself.

Z bites: usually no more than one hour to turn, never as much as two. Quarantine is three hours.

Waiting room, Z-safe interactive entertainments and study materials. Always solo.

Hunt/gather/scrounge team returns; waiting period.

Quiet, always waiting.

All of the surviving civilization also waits. Maybe someday the Zs will all be dead and Niflheimr safe once more; just not yet.

Waiting.

Our groundwave accumulator keeps things OK. Scrounge parts work to build an x-point tap, to restart _local_ civilization. A long, slow work in progress.

Waiting.

Cure? Inoculation? Maybe. We have research stations clockwise and counterclockwise of us along the world's end, with each of them being five Z-freeze radii away, just in case of outbreaks and subsequent iterative waves before they freeze solid.

Waiting.

Two Z vectors: bites lead to full zombification if not immediately amputated well above the bite, scratches lead to “mere” ghoulification (semi-dead, rather than undead; heart pumps ichor, rather than lying still; stimulus response better than Zs'; no Z-hunger; can only cause further ghouls, not Zs). Quarantined party members always masked and gloved against possible turn.

Waiting.

**O ~~~ O**


End file.
